Daddy and I at Senor Tango
(by the way, my spell check is only working in Spanish right now, so sorry if I spell things wrong!)
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Sorry I haven't updated my blog in awhile, but with classes in full swing (finally) I've been pretty busy! I'll try to write a few posts to get you guys up to speed on all the stuff I've been doing since my last post!
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March 28th-April 2nd my dad came to visit me, yay! I was so excited for his arrival, and with it being semana santa (holy week leading up to Easter) I had a few days off from classes to hang out with him and do all the touristy things I have wanted to do. On Sunday my dad arrived in the morning and came to meet my host family before we headed out to la Feria del San Telmo. His hotel was about 3 blocks from my apartment, which was awesome, so I headed over to meet him and give him a big ole hug! We had breakfast in his hotel, which basically consisted of fruit and croissonts or "media-lunas" (half moons) and chatted. His hotel supposively used to be a gay hotel? We don't really know what that means but the men that worked there definitely fit the stereotype, although they were extremely helpful and nice the whole week. We walked back to my apartment and he came in to meet my host mom, Sara, and my host brother, Marcelo. We sat and chatted, me translating back and forth between Sara and my Dad since Marcelo speaks english pretty well. My dad brought gifts for Sara and Marcelo for taking such good care of me: two cotton tshirts for Marcelo which were his request since cotton from Argentina shrinks really easily, and a carving of a duck for Sara since she collects and loves ducks. Daddy took a tour of my apartment and took some cute pictures from my balcony (check them out on facebook!). After meeting my host family, we went to la Feria del San Telmo, a cute little market in the San Telmo neighborhood.
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With his first look into life in Argentina, we watched street tango performers, wandered through the little antique kiosks and other street vendors, and munched on empenadas. There were people everywhere, tons of tourists and Buenos Aires inhabitants both, and he got to practice some of his spanish on the vendors. I bought myself a really pretty photograph of La Boca area (more to come on that later) and we bought some gifts for people back home. Lunch was at a little cafe where we devoured our empenadas and people watched. The little kiosks are endless and sell anything you could think of, lots of antique items and collections of all sorts of things. As in Argentina custom, we decided it was a good time for a nap before the evening, so we headed home to rest up. All in all, I think the San Telmo fair was a very good start to his Argentina trip.
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After a much needed "siesta", we met back up to take Sara and Marcelo out to dinner. We went to a delicious parilla (basically barbecue with lots of meat) right by the Reco
leta cemetary where we sat outside and enjoyed the wonderful Argentina night. Daddy got his first Argentine steak that he had been desperately waiting for which was absolutely delicious! At one point I had to challenge my spanish skills by translating Daddy's jokes about why there are fences around cemetaries- because people are dying to get in! It really was an awesome night, good food and good conversation.
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The next day we decided to check out the Recoleta cemetary (being too afraid to check it out by night of course). The cemetary is huge and absolutely amazing! There are cats everywhere, which we think are to keep out the rats? Who knows. We got a map to guide us around because it is actually like a small city, and got to direct our route so we could see the mosoleums of famous Argentines. We saw the graves of Diego Sarmiento (a very famous Argentine writer who became President), Firpo (the famous boxer) and of course Evita, to name only a few. The mosoleums are so ornate and breathtaking, with biblical references everywhere and a lot of symbolism in the statues. There were spectacular sites next to sites that were literally crumbling and falling apart. I was very impressed with the cemetary, and we spent a couple of hours just wandering around and looking at the beauty that is the cemetary. After working up a good appetite, I took Daddy to my favorite Pancheria right by the cemetary, which are amazing hot dog stands. I got a hot dog with ketchup, mustard, three cheese sauce and spicy sauce, and all hot dogs come with shoestring potatoes on top, YUM! They cost about 5 pesos ($1.25), and our drinks were actually more expensive than the hotdogs themselves. Daddy liked them so much he went back for seconds, which is not suprizing because most of my guy friends here can polish off about 3 in one sitting.
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That evening I left Daddy to go to my evening class at la Universidad del Salvador, while he went and bought tickets for us and some of my friends to La Bomba del Tiempo
. We took a cab to the Konex center where La Bomba del Tiempo is held, and stepped out into a scene that to quote my father "looked like a giant frat party". La Bomba del Tiempo is a big drum show held in an open air venue where people go and drink and smoke a lot of marijuana and enjoy the music. My dad got to meet a bunch of my friends (see picture, Nicolas in the blue, Eddie, and Hannah) and revert to his college days as people around us did all sorts of crazy stuff. We are pretty sure that the drummers are not musically trained at all and had no real plan of what they were playing, but it still sounded pretty cool and people really got into it. We had a blast watching the show and dancing to the music, and afterwords he took me and my friends out for pizza. Daddy got to get to know my friends personalities a little better at dinner, especially my friend Matt who constantly tried to say things to shock my father, to no avail. It was a very fun night, and although we didn't really know what we were getting ourselves into I thought it was so great!
. We took a cab to the Konex center where La Bomba del Tiempo is held, and stepped out into a scene that to quote my father "looked like a giant frat party". La Bomba del Tiempo is a big drum show held in an open air venue where people go and drink and smoke a lot of marijuana and enjoy the music. My dad got to meet a bunch of my friends (see picture, Nicolas in the blue, Eddie, and Hannah) and revert to his college days as people around us did all sorts of crazy stuff. We are pretty sure that the drummers are not musically trained at all and had no real plan of what they were playing, but it still sounded pretty cool and people really got into it. We had a blast watching the show and dancing to the music, and afterwords he took me and my friends out for pizza. Daddy got to get to know my friends personalities a little better at dinner, especially my friend Matt who constantly tried to say things to shock my father, to no avail. It was a very fun night, and although we didn't really know what we were getting ourselves into I thought it was so great! -
On Tuesday I had class in the middle of the afternoon right by la Casa Rosada, so I took Daddy on the bus and dropped him off to wander around while I continued on to class. Daddy had lunch at a really nice restaurant filled with business men, fed the pidgeons, and checked out la Plaza del Mayo until I got back. He also checked out the national bank, which I have yet to see but he said was aweso
me. We tried to go on a tour of la Casa Rosada after my class but it is only open Thursdays on Sundays, so we took pictures from the outside and did some shopping and then returned home for a siesta before dinner. That night, we went to dinner with a bunch more of my friends at another nice parilla right by my house, the Buenos Aires Grill, and headed to Volta, a delicious ice cream place, after. It was so nice for my dad to get to meet my friends down here, and everyone really had a good time. Eddie and Nick came to hang out with my dad again, and my friends Harrison, Emily, and Delaney came to meet him and get to know him as well. My friends now talk about "papa schroedes" and my dad asks me about all the kids he met when he talks to me. Since the next day was the beginning of Semana Santa (holy week), most of my friends would be leaving to take advantage of the long weekend and travel, so I was so happy my friends and my dad got to hang out.
me. We tried to go on a tour of la Casa Rosada after my class but it is only open Thursdays on Sundays, so we took pictures from the outside and did some shopping and then returned home for a siesta before dinner. That night, we went to dinner with a bunch more of my friends at another nice parilla right by my house, the Buenos Aires Grill, and headed to Volta, a delicious ice cream place, after. It was so nice for my dad to get to meet my friends down here, and everyone really had a good time. Eddie and Nick came to hang out with my dad again, and my friends Harrison, Emily, and Delaney came to meet him and get to know him as well. My friends now talk about "papa schroedes" and my dad asks me about all the kids he met when he talks to me. Since the next day was the beginning of Semana Santa (holy week), most of my friends would be leaving to take advantage of the long weekend and travel, so I was so happy my friends and my dad got to hang out.-
On Wednesday I had class in the morning and in the evening, so I ran home between the two so Daddy and I could do some shopping on Avenida Santa Fe, a bustling street right by my house that looks much like New York City. We went to lunch at Los Molinos, a restaraunt a block away from me that my friends and I always go to since it is open 24 hours a day and accepts credit cards, so the waiters all know us. After our lunch we wandered around, trying to find a soccer jersey for my brother and other souveneirs. After buying two soccer jerseys (one for me and one for Matthew) and other random goods, I darted back to the other side of the city for my evening class. That night we decided to wander around and find a good place for dinner in my neighborhood. On our walk, we met a nice Argentine man who helped us find a place to eat. He was so friendly and excited to practice his English, as are almost all Argentines! He was walking his two german-shepard dogs and told us about how he raises german-shepards and works as a doctor here in Buenos Aires. He was definitely a little strange but helped us find a great restaurant called Cholitos. We ate choripan, basically a smoked sausage on bread with chimichurry, and more steaks! Another delicious dinner in Buenos Aires, and since we had a full day planned the next day we went home and skyped with Tappy from Dad's hotel room and went to bed.
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The next day we returned to la Casa Rosada for a tour and hung out at la Plaza de Mayo. Argentina is about to celebrate its 200th anniversary, so the capital building was under construction in many areas but it was still gorgeous! We got to see the room of Argentine women commemorating the important role many famous woman (including Evita) have played in Argentine history, with me translating for Dad the bibliographies of each woman that was recognized. We went out onto the famous balcony where Evita made her speeches as Daddy sang a little bit of "Don't Cry for Me Argentina". We walked through the hall of Presidents (sculptures of their heads, actually a little creepy), got to see rooms where different diplomats meet, took a cute picture outside in front of the Argentine flag, and I even got to snap a picture with an Argentine guard!
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After our Casa Rosada tour, we grabbed some lunch at the same restaurant that my dad had eaten the other day while I was in class, except this time it was virtually empty due to the fact that everyone travels during Holy Week. We killed some time walking around and buying gifts from different street vendors and chatting with Argentines we met on the street. We went to this cool shop that was filled wall to wall with anything you could think of, old coins and bottles to beautiful jewelry. Definitely an interesting store, but it was huge and there was so much to see that we stayed for about a half hour and didn't even buy anything. We later made a stop at Starbucks, just so we could take a picture and send it to my mother! For the record, it tasted exactly like Starbucks back home.
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We finished up our coffee and went to get in line for our bus tour of Buenos Aires. On our way to get in line, we realized that there were signs up saying that the bus stop had moved down the street, which seemed weird to me but hey, this is Argentina and they do weird things here. As we were trying to figure out where we were supposed to go we realized the cause for the bus stop change- they had shut down the main street by la Plaza de Mayo to film a commercial of people running down the street carrying random appliances. We stood and watched for awhile as they took a bunch of takes of this mass of people running up the street. Just another example of how crazy Buenos Aires is.
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The bus for the Buenos Aires tour is hilarious and exactly what you would expect as a gaudy tourist activity, its a big yellow bus where people sit on the top deck wearing giant headphones to listen to the tour while weilding big cameras taking pictures of everything. It started out with a tour around the capital building area, winding around to almost every area of Buenos Aires while passing parks and monuments galore. I really have never realized how many pretty parks Buenos Aires has and how many cool monuments and statues we have, in commemoration of special events and given to Argentina from all different countries. One minute we would be driving through a New York City-looking business and shopping area with skyscrapers and people everywhere, and the next minute we would be driving by a serene park with people sitting and drinking mate. We really got to see areas of Buenos Aires that I haven't even seen yet. Check out the pictures of the city tour on facebook, because there are just way too many to put here! As the sun set in Buenos Aires we got to see cool buildings and areas by night, and we jumped off the bus as it made a stop right by my house to get ready for our night.
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We cabbed it home and changed for our night at Senor Tango, an awesome tango show. Dad organized the tickets with the guys at the front desk of his hotel, who were extremely helpful. A car came and picked us up at the hotel and brought us to the venue where we started out the night with a nice dinner. We were put at a booth with a couple from Colombia, and we started chatting right away. The husband, Jaime was very nice and spoke english very well, and his wife was equally chatty in spanish with me. We shared a delicious dinner and I sipped on wine as we waited for the show to start. Jaime took an adorable picture of me and Daddy (see above) and somebody that worked for the restaraunt took another one that was blown up and framed and given to my mom when Dad returned home. The show started and we moved over to our seats to watch men on horses (yes horses) tell the story of the gauchos, or cowboys, of Argentina. There was dancing, singing and music and it was all over the top and so cool to watch. There were the "tango twins", who sang and danced with an audience member, an ariel act where a lady hung from the ceiling on fabric, and amazing tango dancing with a little humor thrown in. The show was truly spectacular, and we had so much fun! The car took us home after the show and we passed out after a long and fun filled day.
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On Friday, for my dads last day, we decided to explore La Boca, a big port area in Buenos Aires (named "the mouth" because of the way the coast makes it look like an open mouth) that is full of colors and street tango, probably the most touristy area of all of Buenos Aires. We wandered around and took pictures of the streets with brightly colored buildings, painted by the Italian immigrants with the paint remaining from painting their boats. There are cool sculptures of famous Argentines hanging out of the windows and stores filled to the brim with "Boca Juniors" paraphenalia, one of the popular soccer (futbol) teams of Buenos Aires located in, where
else, la Boca. We went to a street pancheria for lunch and wandered around taking pictures of the cool scenery around us. There were street tango performers all over that you could pose and take pictures with, cool street acts and artisans selling their work everywhere. Daddy bought a cool picture of La Boca, and we posed for a picture with our Edina Magazine in front of the famous corner store that sells alfajores, delicious cookies that Dad brought back to the states for everyone to try. Dad bought a cool belt made of Argentine leather (very well made and pretty cheap) and we admired the sites around us until we decided it was about time for dad to go home and get ready to fly home. We said goodbye to Sara (Marcelo was gone visiting his sister for Easter), who commented that my dad was the nicest parent she had met yet, which means a lot because she has had 6 or 7 students live with her! We went back to the hotel to get his suitcases, I gave him all of our gifts to bring back for me and we shared a sad goodbye, and he hopped in the car and took off.
else, la Boca. We went to a street pancheria for lunch and wandered around taking pictures of the cool scenery around us. There were street tango performers all over that you could pose and take pictures with, cool street acts and artisans selling their work everywhere. Daddy bought a cool picture of La Boca, and we posed for a picture with our Edina Magazine in front of the famous corner store that sells alfajores, delicious cookies that Dad brought back to the states for everyone to try. Dad bought a cool belt made of Argentine leather (very well made and pretty cheap) and we admired the sites around us until we decided it was about time for dad to go home and get ready to fly home. We said goodbye to Sara (Marcelo was gone visiting his sister for Easter), who commented that my dad was the nicest parent she had met yet, which means a lot because she has had 6 or 7 students live with her! We went back to the hotel to get his suitcases, I gave him all of our gifts to bring back for me and we shared a sad goodbye, and he hopped in the car and took off.-
I had so much fun with his visit! We got to do pretty much everything we wanted to do, and since I had saved a lot of stuff I wanted to do until he came I got to learn a ton more about Buenos Aires. We had so much fun with our friends and my host family, and of course the food was absolutely amazing, steak steak steak! Marcelo now emails back and forth with my dad and both he and Sara always ask about my family. Although it definitely made me home-sick to see him leaving in the cab, I know I will see you all sooner than we realize and that I have to make the most of my time while I'm here. Since most of my friends were travelling for the weekend I got to have a really relaxing weekend hanging out in my pajamas, doing homework, and watching movies with Sara. On Easter, I went to coffee with a friend and then we went to a service at a magnificent church by the cemetary with her host family. It was such a good week and we couldn't have asked for better weather! I am so lucky to have a family that loves and cares about me so much and as much as I wish everyone could come visit me, I had a blast showing Dad the country that more and more I like to think of as "mine". I will post another update about what I have been doing these last couple of weeks too! As always, love and miss you all! Besos!
